Before there was Ancestry.com…The Joseph Mather Family Register

Recently discovered among the archived holdings is a commercially-produced lithograph form designed to record family births and deaths.  This particular “Family Register” focuses on Deacon Mather’s son Joseph, his marriage to Happy Wakeman, and their five children.

The listing of names and births corresponds to dates in the Mather Genealogy.  Notable however, is the birthdate of Happy Wakeman. According to the published Wakeman Genealogy, Happy was born June 1, 1795, not January 27, 1794.

Also to be noted, there is no mention of Joseph’s first wife, Sarah Jarvis, who married Joseph January 1, 1812 and died April 1, 1812.

All the names and births recorded in this Family Register are in the same handwriting, suggesting this is not a contemporaneous recording of events.  All the deaths are written by other hands, and the death for David B. Mather is off by thirty-four years!  (He died in 1876 not 1842.)

Seen below are two similar Family Registers.  The one on the right is known to have been produced by the D.W. Kellogg and Company of Hartford, the same firm that produced the lithograph for the Mather mourning picture discussed in an earlier blog.  Note also, that the examples below are full rectangular sheets.  It would appear that someone took scissors to the top of the Mather Register.

Like the mourning picture, this Family Register offers a glimpse into the 19^thcentury and the ways in which families and individuals sought to record and preserve both their presence and their passing.